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The Congress had ceded the constutuency, one of the very few in the country to have never returned a candidate of the Grand Old Party, to the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), its ally both in Kerala and the centre, and this arrangement is likely to continue for a long time to come.

"Are you sure, this is correct," was Chandy's the first response to a question about Ponnani.

Elaborating on why this has happened, he said Kerala politics is quite uniquene as it is here that the concept of coalition government's took shape and has stood the test of time.

"Coalition politics strengthened ever since 1967 after E. M. S. Namboodiripad formed the state government. In 1970, under CPI veteran C. Achutha Menon, the Congress also joined his ministry and from then on coalition politics has come to stay. From 1977 this has been the seat of our ally, Indian Union Muslim League, and it's quite natural that the Congress party will not get that seat to contest," Chandy explained.

Since the first general election in 1951, Ponnani has been represented 11 times by the IUML and its candidates have been recording a continuous run of victories from 1977 onwards. The incumbent, E.T.Mohammed Basheer, is seeking a hat-trick of wins.

The Ponnani Lok Sabha seat encompasses seven assembly constituencies, of which six are in Malappuram district, while the Thirthala constituency is located in Palakkad district.

Four of the constituencies were won by the Congress-led UDF in the 2016 assembly polls and three by the with the ruling CPI-M led LDF.

Senior IUML leader Abdurahiman Randathani, who lost the 2016 assembly election from the Tanur constituency, said he too was not aware of Ponnani's unique record.

"I would attribute this to coalition politics. Prior to formation of Malappuram district in 1969, the Congress party and the IUML had contested against each other. With the formation of the present day United Democratic Front Aled by the Congress, Ponnani and Malappuram Lok Sabha seats have always been contested by the IUML and this has come to stay, given the profile of the district," Randathani said.

The IUML had contested 23 seats in the 2016 assembly polls won 18. In Malappuram district alone the IUML contests from 12 out of its 16 assembly seats, clearly indicating that in the district, even the Congress, which leads the UDF, is relegated to a distant second place with just four seats.

(Sanu George can be contacted at sanu.g@ians.in)

--IANS

sg/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)